Tuesday 6 December 2016

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 198

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 198

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 198

December 6, 2016

Dear collectors,

This list is a few of the things I have turned up so far that I’d like to move out/ find a new home for so I don’t have to carry them through to next year (these are items that I have only one or two pieces remaining). I am hoping that I will have one more list later this month but a tight schedule and the fact that I have indeed done most of the inventorying (I may not find many more specimens to offer) may preclude that though. So, even though it is more than a bit early, I’ll say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, etc now just incase I don’t put out another offering until 2017.

BUZZARD COULEE, Canada: (H4). Fell November 20, 2008.
I had a small part hand full of nice complete little individuals of this meteorite a year ago. These two pieces are the ONLY ones I have remaining. Both are complete (each does have a small area of secondary crust). Both are also quite fresh. The larger specimen is particularly so. The smaller piece’s crust is not quite as black as it seems to have some adhering dirt (too cold out and too small to risk trying to air blast this right now. I’d probably only succeed in blowing it out of my cold fingers and into the oblivion of my gravel driveway).
a) 1.0 grams – 9mm x 8mm x 7mm - $20
b) 1.6 grams – 12mm x 8mm x 8mm - $30

COPROLITE: Fossilized dung.
Yep, that is indeed what this is. I don’t know the “origin” (location where it “fell” or species that did the deed) of this dropping but it does look quite different that the ones you commonly see at most rock shows (which tend to be a squiggly long dropping stuck together like a pile of noodles - which are supposedly from turtles, or so I have been told). Regardless, this does have a pretty obvious dung like shape. I got this some years ago for a customer that special requested one of these before I headed out to a show but then changed their minds once I came home with one. This is a larger item (needing a box) so shipping on this (for US orders) will be $5.
122.4 grams – 60mm x 40mm x 30mm - $15

NWA Unstudied: Impact melt rock (likely L type).
I bought this interesting specimen(s) years ago with the promise that it was already in the research process and that I’d be given the NWA number (and classification info) when it was done. I simply set it aside and forgot it (aside from inventorying it every year). I finally went back to the source on this one during this past Denver show a couple months ago. No records found. Nothing in the system indicating that it was indeed ever in research (though a research sample had clearly been removed from the piece). Oh well, these things happen. It is still a pretty cool specimen (but too small for me to want to go through the trouble and expense of pushing it through classification now). This is a small golf ball sized individual that has had an end removed (presumable for the original “research and reserve” specimen) and then another piece cut off (you get that latter piece with this. The larger piece is 39.5g and the thin end piece is 5.8 grams). The exterior of this has the strange slaggy (and gas bubbled) look some of these impact melts have (think Cat Mountain – the first time any of us had seen this on a genuine meteorite). The interior has a super fine- grained greenish gray matrix with numerous (mostly small) gas bubbles (nope, no metal really visible in this, unfortunately). I am now offering this for likely quite a bit less than I paid for it those years ago.
45.3 grams (two pieces) – 33mm x 30mm x 24mm - $150

NWA (2115): Olivine Diogenite. Found 2003. Tkw = 642 grams.
Well, the bag these were in when I got them years ago said “olivine diogenite” on it. The Meteoritical Bulletin though just says “Diogenite” for this particular meteorite in the official report. However, they (the Nomenclature Committee) recently (right when I managed to land a truly rare “Dunite”, unfortunately) decided to lump all the diogenite types: orthopyroxenites (the usual diogenites), olivine diogenites (those that contain some olivine) and Dunites (pretty much all olivine) under the plain heading of “diogenite” for classification reporting now. However, unlike regular diogenites (those that are pretty much all orthopyroxene) this particular meteorite has a Faylite (iron content of olivine number) reported for it (Fa=27.7) in its research report. So the report does not say “olivine diogenite” but this MUST contain a fair amount of olivine for this number to be obtained and reported. I can’t recall the particulars of how I got this stuff (it was a long time ago) I just had it set aside as “really special” (olivine diogenites were really rare and quite expensive at the time). Regardless, I am pricing these pieces at pretty much the same or less than what a similar common/normal diogenite would sell for these days. The smaller “specimen” is a bag of 3 similar sized fragments. The larger piece is a nice end piece showing an interesting crystalline/ brecciated texture. The backside of this piece though does show some hints of resin remaining on the surface. This is because this material is normally very fragile so it generally had to be “stabilized” with a soak in resin or Paleo Bond to cut successfully.
a) 4.7 grams – three similar sized fragments - $35
b) 16.1 grams end piece – 32mm x 22mm x 15mm - $100

NWA (5488): Primitive achondrite, (Lodranite), brecciated. Found 2008. Tkw = 110 grams.
I am pretty certain that I got this years ago from Matt Morgan. I have a vague recollection that I had a customer lined up for this particular piece so I “pre-paid” for this one when I ended up returning the rest of the stuff to Matt, being sure that it was sold. The sale never went through though so I ended up simply setting it aside. I probably should keep it for my collection (and just might if it does not sell here). This is a nice fairly thin end piece. The backside is weathered and wind polished but shows a generally rounded texture (this is certainly not a sharp angular broken fragment). The interior is mostly dark brown but by reflecting light off of the polished face, lots of breccia fragments of all sizes (tiny up to around 10mm in size) are visible.
15.7 grams end piece – 37mm x 28mm x 5mm - $500

NWA (8022): Lunar feldspathic breccia. Found 2013. Tkw = 1226 grams.
Not sure where I got this little specimen from (possibly part of some collection I picked up but then set this aside and never offered it perhaps). The research work says that this is a “highly recrystallized fragmental breccia”. This little specimen does not look very exciting – a mottled light to medium gray matrix with hints of a couple thin black shock veins.
.17 gram slice – 10mm x 5mm x 2mm - $50

SaU (504), Oman: (L5/6), S2, W3. Found March 12, 2010. Tkw = about 20 kilograms.
I am pretty certain that this is my very last piece of this meteorite (but now that I have said this, I’ll find more when I finish inventory work – Murphy’s law almost requires it now). This is a complete slice of an obviously fragmented piece of meteorite. The highly (diamond) polished face interior does show a few fine cracks but is really very solid otherwise (this won’t end up accidentally being a puzzle piece). This is certainly not an exciting meteorite – just a pretty typical weathered L-chondrite with a mottled medium to dark brown interior. Plenty of magnetite grains (most used to be FeNi grains) are visible but not much actual fresh metal. The unpolished back side shows more of a mottled brown and greenish gray color with lots of really fine black veins (shock and or weathering).
104.4 gram slice – 85mm x 50mm x 7mm - $50